Summer Sketching On The Plains Of Abraham

The largest park in Quebec City is officially called Battlefield Park.  It’s just west of the “old city”, the walled part of Quebec City and it was named Battlefield Park because this is where the British climbed the cliffs and fought the French for control of the city in a famous battle.

But we locals still call it the Plains of Abraham because, well, that’s what it’s called.  Abraham was a farmer who farmed the land before the Brits came along and it’s not likely that we’ll start calling it Battlefield Park anytime soon.

On this day, however, we were there to sketch, near a large open area that has rollerblade and running circuits that measure, I think, a kilometer around.  I sat in the sun and made this sketch of what used to be the natural history museum before it was decided that we didn’t need one 🙁

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5c8.5), Platinum 3776

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5c8.5), Platinum 3776

Wedded Sketching Bliss

My wife and I have been together for nearly 30 years and married for 28 of them.  There have been a lot of potholes on our road through life but I can count on one hand the number of big arguments we’ve had.  It’s uncanny as I’m impossible to live with – at least I couldn’t do it.

But last week we went sketching together.  It’s not the first time but it hasn’t been a regular event either.  We put together picnic food and headed to the Plains of Abraham to sit in the shade and enjoy a perfect day.  It was a glorious day.

Stillman & Birn Beta (10x7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black

I drew a tree.  It’s clear that I need more experience sketching trees.  Still, it was fun and my wife was drawing a tree while sitting right next to me.  Life was sweet.

Then it was lunch time and we chatted, watched squirrels and talked about sketching.  What more could a guy want in life?  Besides, the cheese and baguette were great.

We only had 25 minutes left on our parking time (grrr…grumble), so we decided to do another sketch.  I wandered around a bit while she sat down to draw.  I decided on this scene and rushed it a bit to fit it into the time frame and think I might return with more time and bigger sketchbook.  This was done in a 3×5 Moleskine watercolor book.

2015-08-21PlainsAbraham2